Fujimori's Peru: Deception in the Public Sphere. By
Catherine M. Conaghan. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press,
2005. 328p. $29.95 cloth, $25.95 paper.
In her book, Catherine M. Conaghan traces the major events of the
presidency of Alberto Fujimori, starting in 1990 with his rise to power
out of political obscurity and continuing through his departure from
office in disgrace in 2000 after winning a highly controversial third
term. The author characterizes the Fujimori regime as a “permanent
coup,” whereby government officials repeatedly eviscerated the
country's constitution and subverted the rule of law. A central theme
of the book is the Fujimori government's inability through various
unsuccessful attempts to completely dominate the political discourse
despite persistent and sophisticated efforts to control the public sphere.
As Conaghan writes, “The history of the Fujimori presidency is a
chronicle of wrongdoing and complicity, but it is also a story about
resistance and the limits of public deception in modern politics”
(p. 13). The book is enriched with excellent primary sources and recent
investigative reports that became available only after the collapse of the
regime, and which had not previously been so cohesively compiled into one
comprehensive narrative.